Harrion Royce
Harrion has been the Lord of Runestone, and the head of the House Royce, for the past 20 years. He is renowned for his strategy on the battlefield, especially when it comes to a siege. Appearance Harrion's face betrays a matured and weathered man, and often a somber one as well in the past few years. Though he grows his beard long and rarely trims his hair, it is not unnecessarily unkept. Though he still appears to be strong and capable of fighting, the gray streaks in his hair and beard betray someone who is moving past his prime. Anyone that would look at his left hand would notice a missing little finger, an injury Harrion received at the same time as the scar across his eye. In public and more open settings, Harrion carries himself in a very commander type fashion and often wears thousand-year-old bronze armor inscribed with runes. While some call him crazy for doing so, it can't be disputed that the Lord of Runestone has a sort of otherworldly air about them when he does so. In more private and intimate settings, Harrion has a very different feeling about him. He often wears plain and simple clothes and has a fatherly type of personality. History Childhood Harrion Royce was born in 237, to Jocelyn Stark and Yohn Royce as the heir to Runestone, the seat of House Royce. Harrion was born at sea, when Jocelyn and Yohn were returning to Runestone following a visit to their sworn house of Coldwater, in Coldwater Burn. Despite being born earlier than expected, and during an intense storm, Harrion and his mother both survived the ordeal with no injury to either of them. The surprising circumstances of his birth, and the fact that he and his mother both lived, gave him a sort of mythic air that would follow him around until the present day. As a young child Harrion was taught as most boys of noble heritage are in the way of sword fighting, and although he revelled in fighting and dreamed of the day he would wield the family sword Lamentation, his true passion lied in books and knowledge. Since the age of ten, he would spend most of his free time hanging around the library and talking to Runestone's Maester. Harrion loved stories of all kinds, but his favorites were those of huge battles culminating in epic sieges. His father noticed this fascination in his son and would arrange to have him be taught how to beleaguer cities, seeing as the day when that would be necessary would likely come eventually. Young Adulthood Starting in his late teenage years, Harrion started moving his interests away from studying sieges and battles, and towards studying the great castles and forts of Westeros. He first started reading about them in books and studying their schematics, but soon he started to grow tired of living in Runestone and decided to travel around and see the castles for himself. His travels took him all the way from the North down to the Reach, and everywhere in between. He studied the engineering of all the castles he could and made sure to take notes in a journal he carried around with him. When he wasn't traveling he was going on expeditions with the Knights of the Vale to fight the clansmen that lived there, further honing his skill in sword fighting. During this time in the Vale when he wasn't fighting alongside the Knights of the Vale, he sought to strengthen his House's position in the Vale, and for a time found himself frequenting the Eyrie and making connections with the lords and ladies there. On one of his trips to the Eyrie, he met Lady Amerei Egen and fell in love with her, and so it followed that in order to strengthen the bond between House Royce and House Egen, and to be closer to the woman he fell in love with, he married Lady Amerei Egen at the age of 21, and later that year they bore a daughter, who they named Ysilla. When he was 23 his father died of sickness and he took up the lordship of Runestone, where he would remain for another ten years until it was time to raise his troops and go to war. Durran's Defiance When Lord Arryn declared in the name of the King during Durran's Defiance, as a result of his friendship for the Tyrells, Lord Royce was called upon as one of the Vale's principal bannermen. Being the Lord in the Vale with the most soldiers, after Arryn of course, and since Harrion had proved himself to be a competent warrior fighting the clansmen, he rode at Brus Arryn's side as the Vale's top general. During the Battle of the Bridge, Royce got some real experience in putting his study of sieges to practice during the assault on the Twins, and in doing so he demonstrated his expertise in engineering. Also during the battle, Harrion Royce killed both the head of House Hornwood and his brother, Harwin Hornwood. The one on one fight with Harwin Hornwood, also known as the Bullmoose for his great size and strength, ended with Harrion slaying the warrior with Lamentation, though in doing so he received a scar running down his face and had the small finger on his left hand cut off. This fight would later have further repercussions for Harrion after the war. As Lord Arryn decided to make his stand and hole up at the Green Fork, and the Starks decided to do the same that evening, Lord Royce proved himself to be a clever strategist and forded the river with the Vale's best men. He snuck silently around to the rear of the Stark men, and as Lord Arryn's cavalry charged the camp, Harrion performed a pincer move, massacring the Northerners and forcing them to retreat into a defensive position. During the ambush at the Green Fork an eager-to-please Rodrik Dustin, younger brother of Lord Mors Dustin, hurridly and desperately tried to set up an offensive charge against Royce's flanking men. When they ran into the Valemen head on Ser Byram Tollet, one of the commanders Royce forded the river with, cut Rodrick and his men off, and even managed to reform the lines that Rodrick pushed through. In the midst of all the fighting and chaos, Royce encountered Rodrick and cut him down. Lord Dustin saw this and flew into a rage, charging towards the Vale forces trying to get revenge. He instead found Ser Byram Tollet in the way, adamant to keep Mors away from his liege lord. Mors was stronger than anticipated and according to reports and wild speculation, Mors decapitated Byram with his bare hands, but unfortunately for him, this bold move left him badly wounded, forcing him to be pulled away from the fighting and behind Northern Lines. A side note on Harrion during Duran's Defiance: Fitting in with his strange and almost mythical appearance and personality, Lord Royce wore an ancestral thousand-year-old suit of bronze armor inscribed with runes into battle. Both his enemies and allies viewed him as insane for doing so, though none could disagree that when he was fighting in battle, it was almost as if the ancient Bronze King Robar Royce, who fought the Andals when they first invaded Westeros, lived again. The Past Decade Following Duran's Defiance, Harrion spent most of his time at Runestone with his family. After seeing how horrendous an actual war was, he made it a goal of his to make sure he spent more time with his wife and three children in case he was to perish sometime in the near future. For a time he hung up Lamentation and his bronze suit of armor, though his high profile position in the Vale didn't diminish. In 275 his wife Amerei was traveling along the King's Road to visit an old friend. His wife and the people traveling with her were reported lost, with no trace of them to be found, when a sole survivor of the party she was traveling with returned to Runestone. The survivor reported to Harrion that Amerei had been ambushed by one of the Hornwoods and killed, likely in revenge for Lord Royce's actions at the Twins. In a rage, Harrion traveled to Hornwood with the survivor to confront the killer. It was found that Lord Harwin Hornwood was the perpetrator, and so he was dubbed Harwin the Coward, and Harwin the Black, then exiled to Essos, though that did little to quell Harrion's newly formed grudge towards the North. Rumors that Harwin performed certain unspeakable acts to Amerei before she died only infuriated Lord Royce more. The next year Royce traveled with the host from the Vale to fight in the Duel of the Dragons, once again wielding Lamentation and wearing the ancient bronze armor. Recent Events Recently Harrion traveled from Runestone to King's Landing, in preparation to attend the King's coronation and name day. While there he was able to forge nonaggression pacts with several lords of the Riverlands and strengthened his connections with other lords. Harrion also betrothed his daughter to the Freys, in hopes of securing an alliance between the Crossing and the Vale, should a war with the North break out. Towards the end of his stay in King's Landing, he recieved a raven from Runestone saying that his sickly son, Andar, perished. This troublesome news would weight heavy on his mind as he prepared to ride North to Winterfell, in hopes of trying to help keep the North stable after Harlon Stark's emminent passing. Timeline of Events * 237 Born to Jocelyn Stark and Yohn Royce during a thunderstorm at sea. * 247 Begins studying historical wars and battles, learning about how to be an effective commander. * 256 Tours Westeros, studying the land's castles and forts. * 258 Meets and marries Amerei Egen. * 258 Amerei and Harrion bear their first child, Ysilla Royce. * 260 '''Yohn Royce dies of sickness, and Harrion becomes Lord of Runestone. * '''260 Harrion's first son, Waymar, is born. * 262 Harrion's second son, Andar, is born. * 270 Lord Royce and his army march with the Vale to fight for the crown during Duran's Defiance. * 275 Amerei Egen is assaulted and killed by Harwin Hornwood. * 276 Royce fights in the Duel of the Dragons. * 280 Harrion goes to King's Landing to attend the coronation. Family and Household Family Tree Household * Ysilla Royce - Daughter ** Gift: Altruist * Waymar Royce - First Son ** Gift: Vitality * Andar Royce - Second Son (deceased) ** Gift: Bureaucrat * Marsilla Royce: - Sister ** Gift: Altruist * Ser Samwell Stone: - Brother-In-Law and Master-at-Arms ** Gift: Duelist Category:House Royce Category:Valeman